European Social Security and Global Politics

Despite all the best efforts of scholars and policymakers in both camps, globalisation and social security seem to be growing farther and farther apart at an alarming rate. The question of why open market economics is so inimical to the personal security of the average worker has become a paradigm for our era. We will not move ahead until it is squarely confronted and understood.

The twelve remarkable essays in this book explore this vital issue from a number of enlightening perspectives. European Social Security and Global Politics represents a partial gleaning of the September 2001 conference - held in Bergen, Norway - of the European Institute of Social Security, a leading multidisciplinary research group and the vanguard of the debate on social security in Europe. Fifteen highly committed researchers and administrators from all over Europe offer in-depth analysis and conclusions in such crucial areas as:

• • how globalisation increases inequality and hinders redistribution of wealth;
• • how certain social security policies hamper the free movement of workers;
• • the elusive promise of regional social security in Europe;
• • essential elements of any proposed global social security policy; and
• • various reform initiatives for the fair administration of pension schemes.

In addition to the invaluable individual insights advanced in each paper, two notable trends seem to pervade the entire conference. One is the growing divergence of social security policy within European countries, coexisting uneasily with EU measures against social exclusion; the other is the sudden clarity of principle and design in the European welfare state when seen against the virtual anarchy of the globalisation model. Where these trends may lead us is only beginning to come into focus, and this book is among the first to sharpen the images of the possible futures in European social security that are likely to emerge in the next decade.

All professionals in any aspect of social security policy or study will benefit enormously from this provocative book, not only in Europe but throughout the world.